The Cherry and Whites suffered their first home Premiership defeat of the season and under head coach Ackermann as they went down 21-20 to one of their rivals for play-off and Champions Cup places with Billy Twelvetrees missing a conversion with three minutes left.

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Indeed, Gloucester were unable to convert any of their four tries but Ackermann felt there were other factors that contributed to a game he thought his side lost "rather than Newcastle winning."

“We out-scored them with four tries and there were opportunities to score more when we had a lot of ball on the go line and then you look at the tries they scored, it was one kick,” said Ackermann.

“I don’t even think there was a phase. The other was a turnover ball and easily they just took it to the side and scored so for me the way we worked for our tries and the way they got theirs it was too easy. Even the penalties we gave away were so easy.

“Last week we had 40 per cent possession and it was a draw. Today we had more than our fair share and we couldn’t put them away.”

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Ackermann paid tribute to the army of volunteers and club staff that worked hard to clear the snow before the game that enabled it to go ahead following a 9am pitch inspection.

He said: “I want to thank all the staff and all the supporters and everyone who came out to make this game possible through a lot hard work behind the scenes to get the field in the state of us playing.”